[Breaking News]Study: Placebo or Not, Acupuncture Helps with Pain Researchers concluded that the needle remedy worked better than usual pain treatment and better than fake acupuncture.

[NBC News]

Study: Placebo or Not, Acupuncture Helps with Pain

Researchers concluded that the needle remedy worked better than usual pain treatment and better than fake acupuncture.

Acupuncture gets a thumbs-up for helping relieve pain from chronic headaches, backaches and arthritis in a review of more than two dozen studies — the latest analysis of an often-studied therapy that has as many fans as critics.

Some believe its only powers are a psychological, placebo effect. But some doctors believe even if that’s the explanation for acupuncture’s effectiveness, there’s no reason not to offer it if it makes people feel better.

The new analysis examined 29 studies involving almost 18,000 adults. The researchers concluded that the needle remedy worked better than usual pain treatment and slightly better than fake acupuncture. That kind of analysis is not the strongest type of research, but the authors took extra steps including examining raw data from the original studies.